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Military and Postmilitary Landscapes

Prague, Czechia / February 14 – 15, 2018

| ABSTRACT BOOK

MILITARY AND POSTMILITARY LANDSCAPES

CENTRAL EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHERS

PRAGUE, CZECHIA / FEBRUARY 14 – 15, 2018

The Military and Postmilitary Landscapes conference is held under the auspices of:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martin Holý, director

The Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Martin Ou ední ek, vicedean

Faculty of Science, Charles University

Prof. Dr. Bohumír Janský, president

Czech Geographical Society

Prof. Dr. Eva Semotanová, research team leader

The Historical Geography Research Centre

ABSTRACT BOOK

Editor: Kamila Klingorová & Michal Semian

Historical Geography Research Centre

&

Charles University, Faculty of Science

Department of Social Geography and Regional Development

The Research Centre for Cultural and Historical Geography – KUHIG

Albertov 6, 128 43 Praha 2, Czechia

http://www.historickageografie.cz/cechg2018/

e-mail: [email protected]

Photo by Zden k Ku era

Military and Postmilitary Landscapes | ABSTRACT BOOK 2

Opening Ceremony

Wednesday, February 14, 2018 / 12:00 12:30 / Room 1

Legacy of military and post-military landscapes in Czechia

Pavel Chromý et al.

Charles University, Czechia

The extremely complicated history of Central Europe in the course of the 20th century is also evidenced

by the existence of large-scale military training grounds which were marginalised (taken out of the

regional system). They were established in Czechoslovakia both during the democratic regime in the

period before World War II and especially during the Communist totalitarian era. In the mid-20th

century, Czechoslovakia was one of the most militarised countries in the world. At the time after the

demise of the bipolar world and in the period of post-totalitarian transformation, it turned out that the

legacy of military and post-military landscapes is very contradictory. The history of the areas is often

veiled in a mystery and their future is often an object of disputes. Military landscapes are examples of

intensively transformed landscapes, including the areas with valuable nature on the one hand and an

environmental burden on the other. Rather than an object of a public discussion, they are a matter of

conflicting visions of various actors/entities and interest groups.

The contribution is based on a long-term research of military landscapes in Czechia. Following a

comparison of former and current military training grounds, its authors try to evidence the

transformation of environmental thought of society in the past century. The initial part of the

contribution is devoted to the transformation of military landscapes in Czechia and to the process of

shaping of a specific legacy of the landscape and spatial identities. Its next part examines the reactions

of the public to the establishment and existence of military areas, their conversion and future. The

research is based on the analysis of archival documents, the interpretation of the data on long-term

land-use changes and on field surveys.

an interesting phenomenon. While in the past scientists

considered the emergence of military training grounds a major problem for society and the landscape,

in the latest discussions of the conversion of military landscapes they are often opponents of the


Session 1: Military Space & Place: Theoretical Approaches

Wednesday, February 14, 2018 / 12:30 14.00 / Room 1

Looking beyond the fence. The production of military landscapes

Thomas Theis Nielsen, Stig Roar Svenningsen

Roskilde University, Denmark

Military landscapes are much more than the physical space where the military occupies itself and where

it holds land deeds; barracks, training grounds, depots etc. We will argue that military landscapes and

spaces transcends ideas of bounded, Euclidian spaces and should be conceptualized rather as a

complex system of social interactions constantly changing as the result of the spatial practices of the

military and of civil society. Hence, military landscapes are not just a constant physical space and cannot

only be measured and understood solely in terms of physical structures; hectares of training grounds or

prices of office buildings alone. While physical structures such as depot building, barracks etc. all display

a very constant presence, the actual use of these structures may vary considerably, even within a

relatively limited timespan. Other structures and their use are more stable and constant for longer

periods. Military landscapes, we argue, should be conceptualized, inspired by the ideas of Henri Lefebvre

and other key thinkers in geography. Hence, military landscapes and spaces are constantly produced as

the result of interaction between the spatial practice of the military, the physical space and installations

found herein and finally the representations of military spaces, for instance maps, images, statues etc.

In this paper, we will conceptualize the military landscape of Denmark in the past 150 years. We will

focus on the ephemeral practices and presence of the military as well as the long lasting military

influence on the cartographic practice of Danish topographical mapping and the construction of

memorial sites in order to establish a more comprehensive understanding of military landscapes and

spaces in Denmark.


« Believe it or not, this is Afghanistan » Constructing meaning through

an embodied performance of war in the Mojave Desert, USA

Alexandra Martin

University of Montreal, Canada

In the middle of the Mojave Desert (USA), next to the small town of Barstow and other ghost towns of

the Calico Mountains region, is built Medina Wasl, a fake Middle-Eastern town. Medina Wasl is one of

many

used to prepare the troops before their deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Mosques, tea rooms,

souk/street markets, traditional houses and so on shape the visual landscape, thereby transforming the

northern part of the San Bernadino county into an immersive training environment in which the military

reproduces the cultural and religious landscapes from overseas on US soil. To make the training

hyperrealistic, Afghanis and Iraqis are hired as role players to enact the villagers. Through this mise en

military and local populations, but are also implementing a spatial performance. As Gregson and Rose

at play in these simulations. It examines the embodied performance taking place in the Californian

desert, where this once indigenous territory, occupied by Serrano and Cahuilla Nations, has become a

US military landscape mimicking the East. Following the performative turn in social sciences, I use Judith

gender, I extrapolate this concept to point out that these fake villages are not copies of Afghan or Iraqi

towns, but a copy of a copy. The territory is being acted out through a Western lens. It is the Iraq and

Afghanistan that the US wants it to be (Licha 2009). This paper addresses the performative practices that

enable the space to exist in this fashion. What are the rationalities and technologies that sustain and

make possible such military landscapes? How are the different identities being produced in these

as an organizing principle. The analysis results from a visual ethnography of Medina Wasl

consisting in observations, an image analysis and interviews. In 2012 and 2013, I participated in a guided

At the end of the visit, before we entered a bus


Roadside picnic? Overcoming the military past

Hannes Palang

Tallinn University, Estonia

places are currently understood by local people. The focus will be on the meaning of those places are

they (still) seen as hostile landscapes of the other or is the memories of the past being buried under the

layers of time. The key-word for all three cases is re-domestication, creation of a completely new

meaning for the landscape that helps people to deal with the past.


Session 2.1: Current Potential of Fortifications


Present exploitation and development potential of Warta and Widawka

, Ewelina Stasiak

University of

Presented work deals with war shelters line of Warta and Widawka rivers, built in 1939 in present central

With the beginning of the WWII, the defensive line was not even completed in ⅓. Despite this fact, the

line of war shelters played a significant role in slowing down the German troops attacking from the West,

which allowed Warsaw to evacuate. 47 battle shelters have survived to the present days, most of them

are unilateral trams. All the objects are currently located within the limits of the Lodz province. Currently,

they do not play any military or utility function. The main objective of the study was to investigate the

condition of war shelters on the Warta and Widawka line and their utilization and developmental

potential. In addition to inventory research, preliminary social research among the local population has

been carried out to check the level of knowledge and ability to use selected war shelters. The inventory

confirmed the poor technical condition of war shelters, which is the result of natural degrading factors

and damage caused by the local community. It is also a result of lack of legal protection of the examined

objects. Despite the designation of touristic trails and using shelters during the historic reconstructions

commemorating the events of September 1939, a local community is unaware of the developmental

potential of the owned military heritage. According to the authors, with the proper management, legal

of local governments and non-governmental organizations, the examined objects have a chance to

become a significant tourist attraction of the region in the future.


Anti-aircraft Defence of Pilsen

Asociace recentní archeologie, Czechia

During the World War II, the West Bohemian City of Pilsen was the largest military-industrial area in the

German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In the city and its surrounding, the complex

system of civil and military anti-aircraft defense was created for protection against the allied bombing.

Dozens of bomb shelters were built in streets and factories and the whole city was wrapped by the ring

of artillery batteries with famous German anti-aircraft cannons FlaK 88. After the war, part of these

objects were adapted to the new world conflict the Cold War but most of them were destroyed or

forgotten. This paper will present r -aircraft Defence of Pilsen". Main goals of the

project are documentation of physical remnants of war activities and their presentation to the public.

Resersearcher in this project uses a wide variety of archaeological, historical and ethnographical

methods to study the former military landscape. Findings are presented via social networks, interactive

web applications, documentary films, excursions and field workshops. This attractive communication

helped to build a strong community of amateur documentary makers, local witnesses of the WWII and

military history enthusiasts who participate in the project by collecting of new data and taking care for

remnants of anti-aircraft defense and other WWII heritage in Pilsen region.


Multisensory landscape of fortifications

Magdalena Olejniczak

University of Szczecin, Poland

A new research approach to the landscape can be seen in geography, sociology and psychology for

some recent years. It relies on treating it as a source of meanings, aesthetic and emotional experiences.

Communing with the landscape is a subjective sensory experience. The meanings and emotions

associated with the scenery are primarily created as a result of visual source received through the sense

of sight. On this basis, a preliminary assessment of the landscape is made and it determines what is

important for the observer and what is negligible. Less attention is paid to other dimensions of the

landscape received by the other senses (touch, hearing, smell, and even taste). What is more, they also

provide tools to interact with the environment. The more senses are involved in the reception of the

environment, the more profound the landscape is experienced thus it becomes multisensory landscape.

There are historic fortifications and their relics spread all over many parts of Europe, which is the result

of numerous armed conflicts. Currently, monuments of defensive architecture gain more attention, both

in terms of their protection, and the need to adapt them to modern functions. The aim of our article is

a humble attempt at identifying the landscapes of multi-sensory fortifications. An effort of identification

and classification the components which affect their perception has been made. Then we presented

examples of stimuli that can be felt in selected objects. Finally, we did our best to realize their

significance in the perception process of the fortification space and attempted its multi-sensory

diagnosis. The article can be a comment in the discussion of both the multisensorial landscape and the

fortified landscape in the traditional sense. It points out the need of paying more attention to extending

the possibilities of interpretation of the fortress landscape - on a material, symbolic, ephemeral and

sensual plane. Finally, the cognitive and practical significance of the issues presented in the publication

has been stressed, with a special emphasis on the need to spread the knowledge about the fortifications

and their intangible value with many senses.


Session 2.2: Environmental Impacts of Military Activities


The Long Shadows: Global Environmental Impacts of the Second World

War

Simo Laakkonen

University of Turku, Finland

It is a challenging task to attempt to compile an overall account of the environmental impacts of the

Second World War. A major characteristic of this was its fragmented nature. World War II was a

macroscale war, yet its history is made of microhistories. This war began and ended at different times

and ways and in different places. It was truly a global war, with sixty-one countries becoming engulfed

in it. In all these countries, memories and studies are basically dependent on national, regional, local, or

individual accounts of the war. Furthermore, the environmental consequences and legacies of modern

wars are only beginning to be studied systematically. The environmental history of wars has thus ended

f war and

environmental history. This also holds for World War II; a few articles have been published about its

environmental history, and some books have touched on the period. The first book to discuss the global

environmental implications of this war was published only recently. On basis of this recent study the

proposed paper attempts to point out some main environmental impacts of this war on a global scale.

The proposed paper will argue that nearly the whole of the earth both societies and nature was to

some extent militarized during and after World War II. The global militarization of physical and above all

psychological landscapes naturally served the interests of the armed forces and the military-industrial

complex, strengthening their position and impact around the world. We live today in a world that is to a

great extent made by World War II. The proposed paper will address major impacts including

reformulation of our concept of global environmental history, exploitation of natural resources, change

of global waste problem and infrastructure, the development of nature conservation movement and

making of modern environmental policy. The paper argues that the deep structural changes brought

about by World War II naturally caused severe environmental problems, but these changes also made

industrial societies structurally more receptive to environmental ideas and activities, and enabled public

power to carry out necessary reforms. Thus World War II explains to a great extent the emergence of

institutional changes that were prerequisites for the advance of environmental awakening in the Cold

War period.


Resource Use on the Military Training Area Döllersheim/Allentsteig

(Austria) 1938-1957

Sofie Mittas

Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

In 1938, an area of about 20.000 ha was converted into a military training area by the National Socialist

regime in the northern part of Austria (close to the Czech boarder). Before its conversion into a military

training area, around 7000 people that lived in 42 villages inhabited it. Today this landscape, while still

examines how the conversion changed the use of resources on this area. From 1938 until today, four

different organisations were in charge of the area: The German Wehrmacht (1938-1945), the Red Army

(1945-1955), the Lower Austrian government (1955 - 1957) and the Austrian military (Bundesheer 1957-

now). In my paper, I am focusing on the resource use on the training area in the time between 1938 and

1957. I will show that the use of this military landscape was not isolated from its surroundings. It

interacted with its immediate neighbours as well as with the greater economy of the German Reich, the

Soviet Union and Austria. Although it was used almost all the time primarily for military training, it served

multiple purposes. These included the production of wood, food and wool. Archival sources (written

documents, aerial photos and maps) give an insight into military as well as economic reasoning and

show planning activities in the transitioning phases. Realized projects included the continuation of

military training, incorporation into the Soviet USIA companies and the construction of a hydroelectric

power station. The planned but not realized projects included the resettlement of the area, big scale

agriculture and university research facilities. These activities changed the landscape, left their marks,

and created a unique landscape. An analysis of the historic sources shows, that the fate of this area was

strongly tied to its resources.


Landscape and nature of military training areas


Landscape and nature of military training areas, both active and former, are unique in many aspects.

They are extremely important and valuable for naturalists because many rare species of plants, animals

and whole communities vanished from surroundings intensively used cultural landscape survive only in

these areas. The reason consists in the absence of chemical fertilizers and protective means on the one

hand, and in mechanic distribution of soil surface and vegetation cover on the other hand. As the result

erent successive stages of

plant communities can be found. Large parts of both existing and former military training areas, like

the ecological network as important biocentres on highest hierarchical levels (of national or even

European importance). Similarly, after 2000 when the Czech Republic related to the accession to the

European Union accepted the European legislation, many parts of military training areas were integrated

into the European system of protected areas NATURA 2000 in categories of Important Bird Areas (IBA)

and Sites of European Importance. Moreover, the youngest landscape protected area in Czechia was

established in place of the former military training area Brdy in 2015 and more small-scale specially

protected areas like nature reserves and nature monuments were established on the territory of

canceled military training areas Ralsko and Mladá. They need some special ways of management, for

example pasturing of large herbivores like bisons and wild horses to maintain periodic disturbances of

vegetation that keep the unique character of the landscape.


The historical and arboreal research of the Attila line I

Adam Bohár, Attila Hangya

International Business School, Hungary

During the World War II, the Soviet army reached the outskirt of the Hungarian capital Budapest by the

to build fort

Hungarians created the Attila lines in record time; the army built smaller trenches for their infantry and

larger ones against enemy tanks and armored vehicles and minefields were also planted in the Attila line

that it hold off the first large Soviet assault and the Soviet command had to reorganize the whole

Hungarian and Northern Balkan front for a systematic and long campaign before the siege of Budapest.

has re- -hill region, b

The trenches are now home to a new vegetation. In this research, we will cover the previous landscape

in the area and how this line changed it, how the construction and fights went down and, also, how the

arboreal vegetation has been changing in the area since then.


Session 3.1: Military Landscape Heritage: Values and Interpretation


Military landscape as a cultural heritage

Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Czechia

All battles, ancient and modern, influenced the landscape by several traces so we could speak about

military landscapes. Some of these traces were created or used in the time of the battle (e.g. open fields,

view-points, ditches and trenches, batteries), others were built later for public memory (e.g. monuments,

ossuaries and cemeteries, museums). The paper aims on methods of identification of the military

landscapes and traces of the battle and on methods of their protection. Three important military

landscapes with significant traces of the battle and post-war monuments are protected according to

the Heritage Law by Landscape Conservation Areas. The conservation areas protect battlefields from

the 19th century two from Napoleonic Wars (Slavkov/Austerlitz battle of the three emperors, 1802

and Chlumec- Austrian War (Hradec Králové, 1866). A lot of

war and memory monuments are typical for all these military landscapes. The paper focuses on two

questions. First, what are the cultural and heritage values of military landscapes and how to identify

them? Architectural monuments are supposed to be the only one group of values of the military

landscapes. Identification of values will be closely connected with landscape and the paper aims on how

to identify traces of the battles in the landscape (e.g. open fields and view-points, graves, ditches).

Identification of values will be presented on the model areas of the protected battlefields (Landscape

Conservation Areas) from the 19th century. The second question is why only these three military

landscapes are formally protected? Several important battles were held before and after but the

battlefields are not protected as a Landscape Conservation Area. The most important joint feature of the

three protected military landscapes is that they are present in the landscape by several post-war

monuments. Other battlefields as widely known and/or important for European and Czech history as

the protected ones are not so visually presented in the landscape by monuments. The paper will present

other important military landscapes and discuss if they could be supposed as cultural heritage.


Battlefields of the 19th and 20th century in Germany as landscapes of

memory

Andreas Dix

University of Bamberg, Germany

Beside cemeteries, memorials and distinct places (e.g. houses where peace treaties were signed),

battlefields always played and are still playing a major role in the memorialization of war. This process

often started shortly after hostile actions finished. First visitors tried to describe the atmosphere of an

important political moment or tried to find relics. Battlefields then were commonly signed on

topographic maps, described in an endless number of military literature and a popular topic for painters.

Until today, battlefields are popular touristic places where sometimes reenactment groups are

reconstructing the historic event. The paper tries to give an overview of the memorialization processes

on and with battlefields in Germany since the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 19th century. Due

to the World Wars I and II, battlefields are today not as popular as in other countries like in the US where

the battlefields of the Civil War (1861-1865) are often meticulously preserved and became important

parts of the National Historical Landmarks Program. Visiting these battlefields is integrated into political

education. Based on a reconstruction of the history of the battlefields in Germany after the battle, the

history and the mechanism of memorialization will be analysed. In a second step, the question of the

current status of battlefields in the collective memory in contemporary Germany will be discussed.


The Voice from Stone. The Past and the Present of Battlefield of

Königgrätz

University of Hradec Králové, Czechia

West of Hradec Králové, more than 150 years ago, the largest battle inside the borders of current Czech

Republic took place. It is also the location of one of the most complex, and at the same time, the most

extensive set of sepulchral and funeral sculptures in the world. The tradition of maintenance of the

battlefield, the construction of memorials and commemorative activities, took off almost immediately

after the end of the war. In the area of approximately 70 km2, there are almost 500 registered

monuments, memorials and crosses. Many of them, especially those of a larger size, can be regarded as

artistically successful, or even as aesthetically valuable treasures. Most of the monuments are

inseparably linked with the organization that was set up for the purpose of their construction and after-

care in the 80´s of the 19 century, that was re-established after 1989. As part of the activities linked to

last year's anniversary, it was discovered that archeological approaches have been neglected in the

battlefield reception. Nevertheless, it is the archeology of the battlefields that offers new possibilities

and perspectives, answers the questions that have not been answered yet, and in particular, in its present

form, addresses a wide range of recipients. It seems that in some areas and topics, conservative and/or

eady exhausted the subject of the Hradec Králové

battlefield. Frequently repeated theses cease to arouse interest of the reader, and the authors respond

with a pointless fragmentation of subtopics. On the other hand, archeology of battlefields has potential

which has not been much utilized yet.


Battlefields so what exactly? Sources of interpretation

University of Wroclaw, Poland

Tourism has often a mass character as well as tourist attractions attract people with diverse and complex

motivations. These are the vital observations in terms of modern tourism. Although some people would

like to perceive battlefield tourism as a niche form of tourism or a bit elite travel activity, to make a

successful tourism product based on battlefield pot

combines education and entertainment. Moreover, tourism uses visual practices equally with practices

based on emotions and experiencing. In the paper, I try to examine the complexity of the battlefield

nature and describe each of its elements (a battlefield landscape among them) as a source of

omenon far beyond geographical

location. To clear some presented ideas, the paper is based on an analysis of selected case studies.


Session 3.2: Land Use & Land Cover Changes Provoked by Military Activities in the 20th Century


Military land use and the impact on nature and landscape a study of

Danish military areas 1900 - 2017

Stig Roar Svenningsen, Gregor Levin, Mads Linnet Perner, Thomas Thies Nielsen

Royal Danish Library, Denmark

Military use of land for preparations for war, such as training areas, ranges and depots constitutes a

special form of land use, as it is governed by different drivers and logic compared to the civil landscape.

Several studies imply that the military use of land for training and maintenance purposes generates

landscapes, with a positive effect on nature and biodiversity. This paper reports on a comprehensive

study of military land holdings in Denmark between 1900 to present. The relationship between military

land use and nature quality as well as biodiversity was studied on all known military sites larger than 10

hectares (N=113) covering a total of 38.576 hectares. For each military site, land use trajectories were

identified based on interpretation of historical topographic maps. Additional spatial data were applied

to assess the present land use and land cover composition as well as the content of biological diversity.

Results suggest, that military activities, in general, generate landscapes with a land cover and land use

composition different from the Danish landscape in general, which is dominated by agriculture and

urban land use. This difference is also reflected by a relatively high biodiversity on military sites. The

analysis of historical topographical maps also revealed six typical development trajectories for military

sites. (1) conserving original marginal land (with high nature quality); (2) change from agriculture to

nature or open areas; (3) afforestation of former marginal lands; (4) permanent and continues forest

cover; (5) change from arable land or nature to build environment and (6) development into recreational

land. Interestingly, results also indicated that high nature quality and biodiversity on military sites, which

originated from arable land. This suggests that military activities not only conserve nature and

biodiversity but also create new valuable nature. However, some results also suggest that the benefits

for nature are related to specifics types of military activity, such as maneuver grounds and ranges, while

the positive impact of depots and technical installations are less significant or even negative.


Five military training areas five different trajectories of land cover

development? Case studies from the Czech Republic

Hana Skokanová

Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Czechia

The article focuses on land cover development in five military training areas (MTAs) in the Czech

Republic during the past 180 years and tries to find answers to causes of similarities or differences of

this development. Land cover development was researched on the basis of old military topographic

maps and aerial photographs. The results show that there are two groups of MTAs that show similarities

first group, woody vegetation dominated while in the second group open landscape was prevalent. Also,

the first group was characterized by little population and establishment of military camps already in

1920s-1930s while the second group was characterized by rather dense population and similar

environmental conditions. All MTAs experienced drop of population after the WWII which resulted in

drop of built-up area and open landscape and increase of woody vegetation area. With the optimisation

of MTAs, the parts where intensive military training occured will likely stay preserved while the rest of

the areas will be used for ecological agriculture or so-called soft tourism.


Land Cover Changes of Military Areas: Case studies Brdy and Ralsko


The study deals with an evaluation of land cover changes of the selected military areas: Brdy and Ralsko.

on the remote sensing data and supervised classification method. The Landsat archive data were used

for purpose of the classification and aerial photos were used for the validation and accuracy assessment.

The results show the changes related to military activities in the areas: the increase of forest land, the

expansion of successive vegetation and the attenuation of military activities. Remote sensing data and

methods were found out as very useful and perspective approaches to the studies of land cover changes

in the military areas.


Session 4.1: Cartographic-atlas semiotic research Organizer: Alexander Wolodtschenko

Thursday, February 15, 2018 / 09:00 10:30 / Room 1

Historical and historical-geographical atlases and military activities

Alexander Wolodtschenko

former TU Dresden, Germany

The historical and historical-geographical atlases contain diverse spatio-temporal, map-related

information which visually documents the facts of military and (post) military activities. Based on

selected historical and historical-geographical atlases from the author's library (ca. 20 atlases) and ca.

25 atlases from the library "Sächsische Landesbibliothek Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek" (SLUB) in

Dresden, an analysis of thematic maps relating to the periods of the First and Second World Wars was

carried out (a list of used atlases is created). The results of the quantitative analysis were presented in a

tabular form and included: - number of atlases (by country with edition year and city) - a number of

thematic (basic and additional) maps for the periods of the First and Second World Wars. The

cartographic material (maps) was systematized according to scales, names of maps, and territorial

coverage.


Spatial reflection of the ethno-confessional transformation the

landscape of the Russian Caucasus region during First World War

Nikolai Podpriatov

Perm State National Research University, Russia

The article, based on the visualization of historical and statistical data, conducts a consistent spatial

analysis of the ethno-religious landscape of the Russian Caucasus during the First World War, its change

under the influence of military actions and military needs of the country. Ethnic regionalization of the

region is shown, its mobilization potential explored, as well as the subsequent transformation during the

war years under the influence of the dynamics of human and economic resources and migration flows,

both within the region and with adjacent territories. The article deals with the correlation analysis of

state practices of recruiting representatives of various ethnic groups in the army and providing the army

with everything necessary with changing types of economic activity and the use of natural resources in

the regions with ethnic and confessional differences.


Military and historical landscapes of the Russian Altai

Irina Rotanova, V. Gaida, I.Semin

Altai State University, Russia

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Siberian line of fortifications was created to protect the southern

borders of the Russian Empire against the raids of nomads. By the mid-eighteenth century, the Siberian

line of fortifications covered a huge territory from the Urals to the Altai. Part of it was Kolyvan-Kuznetsk

fortified line of defense. Kolyvan-Kuznetsk borderline of defense was an important link in the military

colonization policy of the Russian Empire in the Altai. Creation of a developed system of defensive line

of fortresses, outposts and redoubts in the South-West Siberia, as well as the system of military-

industrial, military-administrative, shopping and business centers for a vast Siberian region in the XVII-

XVIII centuries, was an important historical moment in the emergence of Siberian cities and settlements.

Creating an edge defensive lines contributed to the development of the South of Western Siberia and

the transformation of natural landscapes. Landscapes edge of the defensive line can be considered as a

military-historical and historical-cultural heritage and used as resources in the development of tourism

in Altai.


Session 4.2: Military Landscape Transformations

Thursday, February 15, 2018/ 09:00 10:30 / Room 3

The city walls of Constantinople The changing of a military landscape

discussed by the means of selected textual, cartographic and pictorial

sources

Josef Gspurning, Wolfgang Sulzer

Institute for Geography and Regional Science, Austria

450), represent the

westwards oriented, landside part of the more than thousand years old fortification system of the

Byzantine capital which in combination with the so-called sea wall along the shores of Marmara Sea

and the Golden Horn delineates the ancient potential battleground encircling the city. These still

impressive and now partly restored ruins not only define the boundary of the so-called historic

marks in the fabric of modern Istanbul. With respect to the thematic context and because of the fact

that the obstacles established by the Marmara Sea, Bosphorus and Halic through the centuries enforced

a mainly westbound urban growth, the vicinity of the Theodosian wall is proposed to be much more

interesting area for the investigation of land-use and landscape changes than the shorelines. Therefore,

the spatial focus of the research presented in this paper lies on the urban space between the district of

Eyüp in the northern part of the Golden Horn and Zeytinburnu in the south; this area covers

approximately 11.25 km² (= 7.5 km to 1.5 km) and shows an outstanding feature which makes it highly

suitable for the intended kind of research (analysis of functional and landuse changes and the influence

on the urban vicinity). Although this zone has been used for military purposes for more than thousand

years, it has lost its relevancy after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. Since then, the sprawling city step by

step enclosed the wall and its surrounding inducing drastic transformation processes. From the

methodical point of view, the investigation employs a four step approach. After the assessment of

relevant contemporary texts, the next step deals with the examination of pictorial sources like city plans,

topographic maps, engravings and post-cards covering the time span between the 16th and mid of the

20th century. In addition to these historical sources, the study is complemented by the appraisal of a set

of digital GIS- and Remote Sensing data. Finally, the paper closes with the analysis of material which has

been acquired during several data acquisition and verification field campaigns in the years 2009, 2010

and 2011 to set up a working spatial database for further investigations and as an auxiliary resource to

describe selected aspects of the social dimension of the ongoing transformation processes.


Military-Postmilitary Landscape of Szigetvár-Turbek (16-17. century)

Norbert Pap, Máté Kitanics

University of Pécs, Hungary

During the 1566 siege of Szigetvar, the Ottoman army was commanded from the camp of the sultan.

The Ottoman headquarter was a practical part of the military landscape. Due to the death of the emperor

before the end of the siege, the place gained symbolic value and a couple of years later a mausoleum

was erected there. Exploration in search of the tomb of Sultan Suleiman I and the buildings around it in

the vicinity of Szigetvár, Baranya county, southern Hungary, has been going on for some one hundred

years and on a number of sites. On the basis of newly discovered documents and map representations,

the authors have carried out a reinterpretation of earlier known sources and have abstracted from this

appropriate information for a renewed geographical identification of the site of the tomb. The results

have been construed in a reconstructed end-17th-century landscape using geoinformation methods.

Identification of the Ottoman settlement at Turbék, which can be associated with the construction of

archaeological site at the Turbék vineyard, the increased intensity of findings and through geophysical

examination. The small town was a unique settlement in occupied Hungary, standing between 1574 and

1692 as a symbol of the Islamic conquest of the region.


Archaeology of (Post)military Landscape: War of the Bavarian

Succession in East Bohemia

Pavel Drnovský, Petr Hejhal

University of Hradec Králové, Czechia

The War of the Bavarian Succession took place from July 1778 to May 1779. The war was another in a

series of wars between Austria and Prussia. An essential part of the conflict happened in the territory of

north-eastern Bohemia. The report is devoted to research activities of the authors who investigate the

relics of this war event in the landscape and the possibilities of their archaeological research. Except for

basic archaeological research methods, particularly written and cartographic sources can be used for

this study. Important monuments include relics of Austrian field fortifications, which played an important

role in this conflict. The so-called Lacy´s fortification system was made up of several dozen objects built

in a line over 80 kilometres long from Chrudim to Vrchlabí. A large number of these fortifications are

still preserved in a landscape. Most of these fortifications are preserved by forest, in fewer cases, the

fortifications have remained in open treeless areas. The field fortifications in Broumov´s region make up

a geographically separated group. These field fortifications were used by the Prussian army. In some

or places of clashes between Austrian and Prussian units are a specific group of objects related to the

War of the Bavarian Succession. Both field fortifications and military encampments are structures with

great archaeological potential. Currently, documenting the preserved Lacy´s fortification objects is

going on in terrain. The objects that are not preserved are investigated with non-destructive

archaeology methods. Geophysical prospecting confirmed, among others, the accuracy of the 1st

Military Survey. A few field fortifications were researched using archaeological excavations. Another

present project is dedicated to a systematic survey in the area of the Prussian military encampment from

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century landscape (for example old road communications, small sacred architecture) is taking place in

connection with documenting the military monuments.


Military area Ralsko, its history and today's life

Klára Jandurová

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czechia

The (former) military area Ralsko was established in 1946 in the northern part of the Czech Republic

which was originally inhabited by the German population. Therefore after the World War II and the

expulsion of Germans, the territory wasn't populated so much, so the Czechoslovakia army could use it.

From 1968, the whole area was occupied by Soviet soldiers who left in 1991. Military area Ralsko was

also one of the three areas in Czechoslovakia where nuclear weapons were allegedly hidden during the

Soviet army presence. Even now, 27 years after the last Soviet soldier left the area, are the striking

problems markable across the whole scale of living. There is still a huge unused area with no future

utilization, very low cost living with socially excluded localities and the pyrotechnic sanitation finished

literally a few months ago. The paper will compare historical use of the area with the nowadays

consequences.


Session 5.1: Visualizing Military Landscapes

Thursday, February 15, 2018/ 11:00 12:30 / Room 1

The Third Military Survey Map Sheets of the Map Collection (Faculty of

Science, Charles University) and the process of transforming the

landscape into its militarized depiction

Josef Paták

Charles University, Prague

Out of the many different spheres of human culture affected by war and armed conflicts, cartography

undoubtedly stands out in particular, even if only for the strength of the connection between the two

subjects. It was only natural that every piece of landscape which could potentially become a battlefield

ultimately came to the attention of map makers and military cartographers, who struggled to provide

contemporary armies with maps accurate and complex, yet compact enough to meet the requirements

of the military forces. Successive generations of cartographers contributed to the gradual process of the

making of military maps, which became specific depictions of the landscape tailored to the needs of

armies. In this context, the Third Military Survey could be seen as an important milestone in the

development of modern military maps, at least for Central Europe. As a vast map series covering the

entire Austria-Hungary, it continued to be updated and remained in use for several decades as well as

setting the standard for the successor states. This paper aims to underline the wide scale of methods

and techniques ranging from the geodetic basis to the system of map signs that were used to transform

the common landscape into its militarized depiction. It also attempts to trace the modifications (or lack

of modifications) applied through decades in order to adapt to the changing face of war. The paper

examines the large collection of Third Military Survey maps preserved by the Map Collection of the

Faculty of Science of the Charles University, which consists of both valuable original hand-drawn

topographic sections of the Czech lands and several thousand sheets of derivative maps.


Engravings of Mili War in Theatrum

Europaeum


The two hundred and three engravings of military events from 1618 to 1648, which were printed in the

first six volumes of the publishing work of Matthäus Merian Sr., engraver and publisher in Frankfurt, form

a unique collection of depictions of the largest European military conflict of the early modern age. A

thorough interdisciplinary analysis of thirty engravings of military events in the Czech lands proved that

the engravings published in Theatrum Europaeum have a relatively high documentary value. The

majority of engravings depict battle landscapes and scenes of war in a simplified form; a special

emphasis is regularly placed on the detailed depiction of a field and permanent fortifications. The

authors of the initial sketches for the engravings were often military engineers who were also direct

resulting appearance of the engravings. It is evident from a number of examples that the engravers were

highly capable in their trade but did not know the depicted situations first-hand and sometimes did not

fully understand the initial sketches. Although all the engravings were prepared by one publishing house,

it is evident upon initial observation that they make up a strongly heterogeneous collection. The

engravings can be divided into several groups and individual types according to their genre and method

of creation. The dominant types of engravings are austere ground plans of fortifications accompanied

by icons of military divisions, all placed in strongly schematic depictions of the landscape. The paper is

research of more than 200 engravings, the authors have attempted to identify the characteristical traits

of these unique iconographic sources that depict the landscape of military locations in several European

countries. The selected examples of battlefield engravings on German territory are presented in greater

detail.


"THERE IS NO WAR WITHOUT PHOTOGRAPHY"

Noemi Quagliati

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

At the beginning of WWI, the powers involved in the conflict still hired painters to document different

aspects of warfare. In the Austro-Hungarian Army, they were called die Kriegsmaler. Artists from the

circles of the avant-garde, such as Egon Schiele, Anton Kolig, Alfred Kubin, and Oskar Kokoschka, joined

this military corps. However, the work of the Kriegsmaler was soon replaced by the much more objective

cameras able to record military activities in ways that paintings cannot. The growing importance of the

photographic medium occurred exactly during the World Wars, when, in order to document these

decisive historic events, and especially for political and military needs, various advances took placed in

the development of optical and photo-technology. The observation of the enemy, for example, rapidly

enhanced the employment of aerial photography, which serves as a weapon of war used by the aviation.

The German Oskar Messter invented the Maschinengewehrkamera (or machine gun camera). This small

and light device, constructed by the Ernemann company in Dresden, was used to map from above with

unprecedented level of detail and fidelity. The American company Kodak and the Garman Leica were

extremely popular at that time. During the Great War Kodak produced the Vest Pocket Camera: the first

compact folding camera using the smaller 127 film, which was so small and practical to be advertised as

ompact camera Leica was, instead, the first that used standard

cinema 35 mm film and was associated with street photography and photojournalism. Since WWI there

is no war without photography. The camera was not just a device whereby easily document events, but

as well as having the power to make eternal a fragment of time. Its mechanical precision portrayed the

brutality of the industrial war. Aerial photographs showed the devastating environmental impact of the

militarization and the topography of landscapes dominated by rigid and artificial geometries. Nowadays

-eye views still document unexpected morphologic transformations of the landscape caused by

the increasing number and scale of human interventions, such as the exploitation of natural resources,

the urban planning, and the industrial development. The technological and industrial sophistication

adapted to the modern battlefield inaugurated a new era, in which photography is considered the best

way to understand the shape of the present.


Visualising fortifications of Vyborg with Story Maps

Antti Härkönen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

The city of Vyborg lies in Russia near the Finnish border. The town of Vyborg was born in the 14th century

around the castle of Vyborg. Russians conquered it in 1710. In 1812, after Russia had conquered Finland

from Sweden in 1809, Vyborg was attached to the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. After Finland

declared her independence in 1917, Vyborg was one of largest cities. Vyborg and the rest of Karelian

Isthmus region were ceded to the Soviet Union after the WWII. Fortifications and garrisons are crucial

Late Middle Ages, Vyborg was one of only three

fortified towns in Swedish Realm. The eastern fortifications were expanded in the 16th century with

artillery resistant modern walls. After the Greater Northern War, Vyborg became an important garrison

town and fortifications were build facing west. After Crimean war, old walls were deemed obsolete and

replaced by modern walls further outside. ArcGIS Online (AGOL) can be used to create visualisations in

a variety of ways. GIS can be used to create diachronical maps showing expansion of fortifications.

Viewshed analyses are a way to visualise dominant positions of walls and bastions related to terrain. All

of these can be made available on the internet as interactive and aesthetically pleasing Story Map

presentations.


Session 5.2: Documentation of War Relicts


Field fortifications of Austro-Hungarian and Russian army from winter

1915 (examples from Northeastern Slovakia)

Martin Vojtas

M., Kapavík, R., Tajkov, P., Petr, L.

Masaryk University, Czechia

The Carpathian Mountains became the focal point of war conflict at the beginning of 1915 when the

fiercest clashes between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies of the whole war took place in the

Carpathians. Due to the mountain terrain the combat operations took place in, the remnants of war-

related activities have been preserved until present days in many sites. Some of them were surveyed by

archaeological methods: Austria-Hungarian trenches on Staviska hill (Bardejov district) and Kobyla hill

(Medzilaborce district). There are well-preserved remnants of field fortifications on all selected sites.

Although the reconnaissance of the Russian outposts is still in its early stage, several interesting

structures already emerged. Small foxholes for one kneeling/laying soldier, usually prone to quick

destruction due to their small size, are still visible on the site near Habura. Positions on the ridge near

remarkable clusters of trenches, located behind the main trenchline (possibly smaller shelters related to

commanding hierarchy), plus two very deep dugouts. These two positions might be dugouts for the

107mm field guns. All structures mentioned above are clearly visible on LiDAR-based visual data,

originating from the reconnaissance carried on Polish territory. The defense of Austro-Hungarian troops

on the ridge of Staviska hill consisted of one main trenchline. It was built using the stone, obtained by

shattering the bedrock, disturbed during digging the trenches and related structures. Trench line is

connected with backward slopes of peak via several communication trenches. On Kobyla hill, there is a

whole tangle of trenchlines, often over 1 m deep. There are numerous shelters connected to the main

trechline as well, plus the main trenchline is reinforced by traverses. Behind the main defensive

trenchline, there is a remarkable cluster of entities. Detailed drawn documentation of the preserved

remnants in 1:100 scale was carried out on both sites and the usefulness of photogrammetric 3D

documentation was tested either.


Telling the stories behind the preservation of WWI-relics in Flanders

Fields by using aerial photographs and LiDAR data

Hanne Van den Berghe, W. Gheyle, N. Note, B. Stichelbaut, T. Saey, D. Hanssen, J.

Bourgeois, M. Van Meirvenne, V. Van Eetvelde

Ghent University, Belgium

During the period 2014-2018, the commemoration of the First World War (WWI) is taking place in many

by the war affected and/or related areas. This war, which can be seen as a worldwide cultural calamity,

destroyed besides the societies and their mode of life, also directly different landscapes in many regions.

The extent of the impact depended on the warfare, hinterland activities, landscape characteristics,

geology and many other defining features related to this complicated war. This paper discusses the

impact of the war on the landscape in West-Flanders, an area located on the former Western Front of

Belgium, which formed the theatre of warfare for four years long as a result of the stalemate of the

trenches. Consequently, this area was intensively disturbed by many consecutive battles forming a lunar

like landscape full of craters, mud and military features, with no or barely visible elements of the pre-

war landscape and a completely disturbed fauna and flora. The spectacular recovery and reconstruction

with traditional pre-war influences took a lot of effort, time and money. Consequently, one hundred

and a well-running economy. Nevertheless, the war still left its footprint in the landscape, forming the

last witness of this event. This can be found in above ground and in below ground preservation. Most of

the above ground WWI-traces are obvious like protected relics (e.g. bunkers, trenches), but many of the

traces are not always visible with the normal eye and can be found in the micro-topography of the

landscape. The presented research analysed this micro-topography with remote sensing techniques

such as valuable historical aerial photographs taken during and after the war and Light Detection and

Ranging (LiDAR) data. With these sources, it was possible to study the temporal evolution based on land

use/land cover and linear elements as an understanding of the presence of WWI-relics in the present-

day micro-topography. Different landscape patterns and changes were linked with the above-ground

preservation of WWI-relics and revealed that many WWI-craters still have subtle footprints in the

landscape, making the area on and around the former frontline in West-Flanders a remembrance

landscape.


Remains of World War II field fortifications in Region of South Moravia

- Archaeological perspective

Ústav

In the spring 1945, eastern front reached South Moravia region. German army prepared quite a complex

system of field fortifications, spreading from Morava river on Moravian-Slovakian border to the city of

Brno, me

-

8th April. But Germans managed to fight on well-prepared defense until 26th April when Brno was

South Moravia. One might assume that after more than 70 years of extensive recultivation and intensive

-

assumption - there is nothing but fields and some metal finds at best. But nowadays we have several

examples of archaeologically excavated sites, suggesting that there might still be many remains of

-

Burgstall and Pasohlávky where the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Brno, documented several

dozens of mainly smaller structures like shelters for two kneeling or standing soldiers, machine gun or

mortar positions or larger parts of trench lines. Another surveyed positions are located in several places

in Brno and close surroundings where Archaeological Monument Care Department excavated parts of

complex trench systems as well as smaller structures for one or two soldiers. Besides mentioned sites,

there is at least one well-preserved fortification. It is placed on the eastern edge of the city of Brno and

consists of several zig-zag trench lines. These trenches are clearly visible both on the historical aerial

image and aerial laser scanning data (so-called LiDAR), they are also apparent on modern aerial images.

This surviving position gives us a good insight into an effort German army put into defense during the

last days of the war. All mentioned sites are good examples of reuse of landscape after the end of the

war as well - they were often landed up and used for agriculture. Due to the widespread construction

of new buildings in recent years, some of these sites were destroyed and serve a new purpose.


Borderlands of Tachov Region Great Example of Cold War Landscape

Michal Rak

Asociace recentní archeologie, Czechia

Cold War is a period of over 40 years long which had a great impact on borderlands landscape of former

Czechoslovakia as well as the present Czech Republic. The main aim of this paper is to represent the

identification of sites associated with the political events of the 20th century (the Iron curtain, deserted

villages, military monuments etc.) in the area of borderlands of Tachov Region as an example of Cold

War landscape. The primary methodology consists of the identification and mapping of anthropogenic

relics on the basis of airborne laser scanning (ALS) data, subsequent verification in terrain,

documentation of current status and observation of spatial relationships in wider landscape context.

The identification of individual sites was realized through the combinational analysis of remote sensing

data (ALS, aerial photography) and non-

ed in the researched area and in the case of its devastation we will lose a wide

range of unique information.


Session 6.1: Strategies of War & Security


Hiding the hydrological: Camouflaging

during the Second World War

James Robinson

Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

Despite attracting intellectual curiosity from across the arts, military history, architectural studies and

the biological sciences, camouflage as an object of critical inquiry has received scant attention by human

geographers. This paper seeks to demonstrate how a critical examination of the practices of

concealment and deception can contribute to some of the key debates within cultural and historical

geography, among them the impact of militarised practice upon the material landscape. At its core,

camouflaging as a militarised practice is deeply and complexly entwined with debates about landscape:

it involves developing an understanding about how landscapes are interacted with by militarised bodies

through a variety of visual engagements and embodied entanglements; the categorisation of traces and

formation of

landscapes of the 1930s and 1940s, this paper examines the attempts of camouflage practitioners (or

ouflage strategies in order to conceal and hide a variety of

r crews. It will

the unique challenges posed by hiding bodies of water, the paper will illustrate some of the novel

techniques and methods that were trialled to distort, manipulate and obscure these surfaces. In doing

so, the paper aims to demonstrate how militarisation can imprint upon not only our terrestrial worlds,

but also our aqueous landscapes.


The Arctic Military Landscape: the role of military geography for the

Winter War battlefields in the Finnish-Russian borderlands (1939-40)

Pasi Tuunainen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Pasi Tuunainen The Arctic Military Landscape: the role of military geography for the Winter War

battlefields in the Finnish-Russian borderlands (1939-40) The Soviet-Finnish Winter War was waged in

unique Arctic and Subarctic terrain and weather conditions. These physical geographical factors created

various problems for both belligerents but the Finns could better harness the elements and use them to

their benefit because they had prepared themselves for winter warfare in their own territory. In this paper

winter of 1939 1940, taking military geography as my interpretative framework. In order to understand

how this peculiar northern environment could be exploited for military purposes, one needs to

differentiate potential risks and benefits of the forested terrain that was characteristic along the Finnish-

Russian borderland at the time. The geographical considerations that formed the basis for Finnish

operational plans and that had been incorporated in their tactics and training are illustrated by a range

of sources. Utilizing archival documents, maps, manuals and secondary literature, I will identify the ways

in which the Finns managed to exploit the natural conditions to their advantage during the Winter War.

Military operations conducted in the European north were heavily affected by seasons. When winter sets

in, the ground and waters freeze and the natural obstacles disappear. Thus the battlefield becomes

larger. Winter can hamper movement and mess up logistical support, but it can also aid military

operations if one possesses over-snow mobility. The Finnish Army not only had this strength but it also

had the ability to conduct sustained operations in the trackless wilderness. This was imperative because

broken and rough terrain and wintry weather can become an additional enemy if one is not equipped

and trained to live, camp, move and fight in deep snow, ice, adverse cold weather and almost complete

darkness of the far north. In their operations, the Finns pitted their own strengths against the absolute

weaknesses and comparative disadvantages of the Red Army. These strengths that were derived from

the exploitation of geographical conditions explain to a large extent the relative military success

achieved by the Finns. The Finnish Army had correctly appreciated the role of geography, and, therefore,


The Impact of Security Considerations on the Residential Map in

Physically-Divided Cities: The Case of Israeli Jerusalem, 1948-1967

Eldad Brin, Arnon Golan

University of Haifa, Israel

The topic of security-minded residential planning in physically-divided cities is of limited scope since

there are very few cities which were or are divided between hostile political entities, such as Berlin which

was divided in the years 1949 to 1989 between the former GDR and DDR and Nicosia which is divided

since 1974 between the Republic of Cyprus and Turkish dominated Northern Cyprus. The 1948 Arab-

Israeli War had far-reaching spatial consequences on the urban fabric of many Israeli cities and towns,

especially regarding the alteration of their ethnic and socio-demographic makeup. The war's impact on

Jerusalem has been especially detrimental as the city has experienced considerable damage to buildings

and infrastructures, massive population dislocation and physical division between Israel and the

Kingdom of Jordan. Shortly following an armistice agreement signed on 4 April 1949 Israeli-controlled

West Jerusalem was effectively declared capital, a step officially unrecognized by the international

community. Surrounded on three sides by a volatile armistice line, the Israeli sector of the city was since

then and until the 1967 war vastly repopulated and its built-up area enlarged. The Israeli government

intended to establish firm facts on the ground as regarding its political intentions for the city. Given

Western Jerusalem's precarious geopolitical setting, security considerations have had significant weight

in this process, influencing the populating of seam areas, the spatial layout of new residential clusters

and even the design of specific structures. Consequentially the Israeli army, as sole security authority,

had much leverage over the decision-making process. That said, the army's clout waxed and waned.

This holds true for other actors involved in the process, namely the Jewish Agency, the Israeli

Government and the Jerusalem Municipality. Thus, while security considerations remained relevant

throughout the period in question (1948-1967), they have had more influence or less so vis-à-vis the

ever-dynamic security and political situation and with realities on the ground.

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